How one startup is using prebiotics to try and ease the copper shortage

The article discusses the looming global copper shortage expected within five years, driven by rising demand from sectors like data centers and electric vehicles. Current projections suggest supply could fall short by up to 25%, pushing copper prices higher and prompting increased investment in mining ventures, such as KoBold’s recent efforts in Zambia. Amid this challenge, a startup named Transition Metal Solutions is pioneering a novel approach to enhance copper extraction by leveraging microbial communities in ore heaps. Unlike traditional methods that focus on isolating or engineering specific microbial strains, Transition aims to stimulate the entire microbial ecosystem using low-cost, mostly inorganic additives—akin to “prebiotics” for copper mines—to boost copper yield by 20-30%. Transition’s CEO, Sasha Milshteyn, explains that previous microbial enhancement attempts often failed because they targeted individual strains without considering the complex, largely uncharacterized microbial communities in acidic heap leach environments. These environments are difficult to replicate and study in labs, with over 90% of microbes being previously unknown